When Gravity Fails Read Online Free PDF

your ass I do,” I said. I probably knew him better than she did. I got up and crossed the room to Tami’s Telefunken holo. With a stiff forefinger I silenced the koto music. Peace flooded in; the world thanked me. Tamiko moaned in her sleep.
    “What if he doesn’t keep his part of the agreement? What if he comes after me and forces me to go back to work for him? He likes to beat up girls, Marîd. He likes that a lot.”
    “I know all about him. But he has the same respect for Friedlander Bey’s influence that everyone else does. He won’t dare cross Hassan’s decision. And you better not, either. If you skip out without paying, Papa will send his thugs after you. You’ll be back to work for sure, then. After you heal.”
    Nikki shuddered. “Has anybody ever skipped out on you?” she asked.
    I frowned. It had happened just one time: I remembered the situation all too well. It had been the last time I’d ever been in love. “Yeah,” I said.
    “What did Papa and Hassan do?”
    It was a lousy memory, and I didn’t like calling it up. “Well, because I represented her, I was responsible for the payment. I had to come up with thirty-two hundred kiam. I was stone broke, but believe me, I got the money. I had to do a lot of crazy, dangerous things to get it, but I owed it to Papa because of what this girl did. Papa likes to be paid quickly. Papa doesn’t have a lot of patience at times like that.”
    “I know,” said Nikki. “What happened to the girl?”
    It took me a few seconds to get the words out. “They found out where she’d split to. It wasn’t difficult for them to trace her. They brought her back with her legs fractured in three places each, and her face was ruined. They put her to work in one of their filthiest whorehouses. She could earn only one or two hundred kiam a week in a place like that, and they let her keep maybe ten or fifteen. She’s still saving up to get her face fixed.”
    Nikki couldn’t say anything for a long time. I let her think about what I told her. Thinking about it would be good for her.
    “Can you call to make the appointment now?” she asked at last.
    “Sure,” I said. “Is next Monday soon enough?”
    Her eyes widened. “Can’t we do it tonight? I need to get it finished tonight.”
    “What’s your hurry, Nikki? Going somewhere?”
    She gave me a sharp look. Her mouth opened and closed. “No,” she said, her voice shaky.
    “You can’t just set up appointments with Hassan whenever you want.”
    “Try, Marîd. Can’t you just call him and try?”
    I made a little gesture of surrender. “I’ll call. I’ll ask. But Hassan will make the appointment at his convenience.”
    Nikki nodded. “Sure,” she said.
    I unclipped my phone and unfolded it. I didn’t have to ask Info for Hassan’s commcode. The phone rang once and was answered by one of Hassan’s stooges. I told him who I was and what I wanted, and I was told to wait; they always tell you to wait, and you wait. I sat there, watching Nikki twisting her hair, watching Tamiko breathing slowly, listening to her snoring softly on the floor. Tamiko was wearing a light cotton kimono, dyed matte black. She never wore any kind of jewelry or ornament. With the kimono, her ornately arranged black hair, her surgically altered eyelids, and the painted face, she looked like an assassin-geisha, which is what she was, I guess. Tamiko looked very convincing, with the epicanthic folds and all, for someone who hadn’t been born an Oriental.
    A quarter of an hour later, with Nikki fidgeting nervously around the apartment, the stooge spoke into my ear. We had an appointment for that evening, just after sunset prayers. I didn’t bother to thank Hassan’s flunky; I have a certain amount of pride, after all. I clipped the phone back on my belt. “I’ll come by and get you about seven-thirty,” I said to Nikki.
    I got that nervous eye-flick again. “Can’t I meet you there?” she asked.
    I let my shoulders sag.